He played hurling with his local club Thomastown and was a member of the Kilkenny senior inter-county team in the 1970s and 1980s.
[citation needed] O’Hara played hurling and Gaelic football with his local Thomastown club.
O’Hara's great run of success continued in 1977 when he won a second set of provincial and All-Ireland honours at under-21 level.
Much was at stake as Cork were aiming to capture a third All-Ireland victory in-a-row and nothing would give Kilkenny greater pleasure than stopping them.
A goal by Noel Lane after forty-seven minutes gave Galway a two-point lead; however, the men from the west failed to score for the rest of the game.
The early years of the new decade were unhappy ones for O'Hara as Offaly emerged as a new force in Leinster, winning back-to-back provincial titles in both 1980 and 1981.
By 1982 Kilkenny were back and O'Hara began the year by collecting a National Hurling League title before lining out in the Leinster final.
Offaly, the reigning provincial and All-Ireland champions were the opponents on that occasion and an interesting game developed.
After a close seventy minutes of hurling Kilkenny emerged victorious by just two points, giving O'Hara a second Leinster winners’ medal.
Once again Kilkenny dominated the game, assisted by a strong wind in the first-half, and hung on in the face of a great fight-back by Cork.